Ravas scales

Mobile scales producer Ravas recently opened an office in the UK to capitalise on the growth in the European market for its products.

Nicola Whittle, Ravas UK's area manager, says Ravas Europe BV has seen substantial growth in sales of mobile weighing systems over the whole of Europe.

"In order to support this growth, it was decided to set up our own Ravas subsidiary in the UK. Alongside private label sales, the UK market has been served through a couple of dealers and it became necessary and logical for Ravas to have a local presence," she says.

The Ravas mobile weighing systems are generally sold as a private label product through major materials handling suppliers like Jungheinrich, Linde, Toyota, Crown and Still.

Whittle says Ravas has had a couple of offices in Germany for a long time, as well as offices in Benelux and France.

"More recently, an office in Italy has been opened. After the success of Italy in 2007, it was decided that in 2008 Ravas would start up offices in the USA and in the UK to fulfil the demand of its customers," she says.

Ravas mobile scales are installed on forklifts, warehouse trucks and pallet trucks and display the weight of every pallet or container lifted.

Ravas has existing production facilities in the Netherlands and in China.

Whittle says production will continue to be based in these countries for the European market and an assembly line will be set up in the USA to accommodate the markets in North and South America.

Ravas hopes its move to the UK will create a better awareness in the market that mobile weighing improves efficiency in all types of logistic operations.

The company has a substantial share of the European market for mobile weighing, estimated at 45%.

In 2007, Ravas sold a total of 14,500 mobile weighing systems worldwide with a forecast growth rate of 15% per annum, Whittle adds.